


Mother's Day

by stover



Series: Dysfunctional to the Max [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Middle School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dysfunctional Family, Family Member Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mother's Day, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 07:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6793132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stover/pseuds/stover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's mother's day. Sasuke struggles to deal with that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mother's Day

“I’m not gonna give my mom _slipper genies_ on _mother’s day!”_

This was what was heard when Sasuke opened the door to his classroom. It was also how Uchiha Sasuke, child prodigy and heir to the Uchiha fortune, began his thirty-eighth day of his second year at Konoha Chuugaku.

He saw the affronted look Sakura was pinning on Naruto. He was surprised to see that Naruto had come in before him, even if it was starting to happen on a weekly basis. He _wasn’t_ surprised, however, to see the buffoon sitting in his seat and bringing everyone to crowd around it. Naruto always drew a crowd. Though, for the better or worse, Sasuke could never tell.

“Why? Your mom’s always cleaning, _and_ she’s always complaining how she feels like a granny whenever she’s gotta wear socks in the house. This is like killing two birds with one stone. Plus, they have them in pink, see?”

Naruto actually pulled out a pair of cleaning slippers out of his duffel bag. It was still in clear plastic wrapping that crinkled as he took it out.

“You’re so stupid,” Ino huffed. “And these aren’t even new!”

Now it was Naruto’s turn to be affronted. “Hey! I wore them ONCE to see if they actually worked, okay? _And_ I washed them afterwards, so whatever.”

“Why’s your bag full of nothing but these? Where’re all your books?” Kiba crouched down and poked through the contents of the bag. “Dude, why’d you even come to school?”

“Oi! Hands off the merchandise! My homework’s somewhere in there, don’t do that!”

Sasuke shut the door with a bang loud enough to make his classmates jump. He glared at the unaffected crowd around his seat, and glared even more when all they did was smile and wave at him like they didn’t know he wasn’t a morning person .

Naruto was the worst of them all.

He sent a grin as bright as a thousand suns right at him as Sasuke made his way to his seat -- the seat that Naruto was currently sitting in. The idiot even had the audacity to wave at him with the packaged slipper genies. “Mornin’, ya lily bastard. Great morning face you got there. Hey, you need a gift for mother’s day? Gotta love our mothers, right? Well, I got a ton of--”

Sakura slapped a hand over Naruto’s mouth just as Sasuke felt something heavy drop into his stomach.

The crowd around his seat got quiet real fast.

To his credit, Naruto looked like he’d just committed a heinous crime. Which, in Sasuke’s case, it kind of was.

His eyes, usually large, got bigger than Sasuke had ever seen. His apology spilled out in short bursts. “Sasuke, I’m-- I’m so, _so_ sorry, I--”

“It’s fine,” he found himself saying, aware of the eyes of his classmates all around him. He surprised himself as he said that, even more so when he realized how small and quiet it’d sounded.

Naruto looked like he was about to say something more, but Shikamaru thankfully grabbed a hold of him. He grabbed the boy under his arms and pulled him out of the seat.

“Well, time to go,” Shikamaru sighed. “Hey, Ino, grab that bag, will ya?”

It took a moment for Ino to snap back to action. She plucked the duffel bag off the floor and hoisted it over her shoulder.

Chouji and Kiba left too, mumbling “see ya”s and quiet “bye”s as they followed closely behind Ino.

Just in time, too, because their teacher for their first morning class had just strolled on in.

“Welcome back, kiddos,” Kakashi-sensei drawled, unaware of the crisis that was just averted. “You know the drill. Pass up your homework and take out your books. History awaits us all with bated breath.”

The students followed, reaching into their bags for their books and papers and hoping their teacher didn’t notice how some kids didn’t hand in anything at all.

Sasuke flipped open his textbook after shoving his homework into some kid’s waiting hand, staring earnestly at the lines of kanji in the hopes that he could dive somewhere between in the strokes and be forgotten.

“Sasuke-kun,” he heard Sakura whisper to him from her seat beside him. “You okay?”

Sasuke gave some noncommittal sound in reply and stared at Kakashi-sensei’s messy scrawl forming on the board instead.

Not surprisingly, Sasuke had a hard time following his morning classes.

 

\---

 

“I can’t bring this home,” Kiba moaned, burying his face into the math test he’d just received. “I missed the exact same questions we went over in juku.”

They were sitting outside for lunch, taking refuge in the shade of the largest tree in the back of the school. Sasuke was there, too. He took his regular seat against the south end of the tree, sitting a little away from the group, right under the lowest branch he used to climb when he was smaller and easier to goad into partaking in frivolous contests. As usual, he had a book in hand once he’d finished eating, choosing to read and (sometimes) listen to the inane comments that sprouted from their lunch conversation.

Though he was a regular (albeit reluctant) member of their group, his presence today seemed to surprise the others. There was noted hesitation when they greeted him; only Sai and Sakura seemed not behave any different, though Sasuke thought Sakura was more cheery than usual today. He supposed after this morning, they suspected he would’ve preferred to keep away. While he admitted the thought had crossed his mind more than once, he eventually realized it would be pointless. They would’ve searched for him anyway.

Tch. Annoying.

It took a while for the brittle air of awkwardness to go away, broken only when Naruto joined them with his duffel of slipper genies.

 _Count on Naruto to shatter any mood, good or bad,_ Sasuke thought wryly, turning a page in his book as he listened to Kiba’s endless whining.

“You’ll be fine,” Shikamaru eased, folding his arms behind his head and leaning against the trunk of the tree.

The group expected some vague line of advice from him, but turned away in disappointment when all Shikamaru did was close his eyes and start dozing off.

“Perhaps you need a remedial course?” Sai suggested unhelpfully.

“No way! I’m not _that_ hopeless! I scored _way_ higher than Naruto!”

Naruto dumped his face in his hand and scowled. “Gee, thanks for the encouragement.”

“Kabuto-sensei said there’ll be retakes. You’ll be fine,” said Ino, idly stirring the rice in her bento. She passed the last of her tamago-maki to Chouji when she caught him eyeing the leftover food in her bento. She kept her furikake rice, though.

“Besides,” Sakura continued. “I’m sure you just need some practice. Have you tried the review questions in the back of your cram book?”

Kiba flopped down on the grass, letting his back hit the ground with a soft thud. A look of resignation came over him as he stared up into the sky. “I threw out my cram book. Didn’t think I’d actually need it.”

Naruto barked a laugh. “Hah! And you call _me_ dumb.”

“Shut up,” Kiba hissed, sitting up straight again and sending Naruto a sneer. “I’m not the one who had to dump out his bag full of slipper genies just to get my homework out in class.”

“Because you went and touched everything!” Naruto screeched, hugging the same duffel to his chest as if it contained his greatest treasure.

“Where’d you get so many of those?” Chouji asked, pointing at Naruto with his chopsticks.

Naruto grinned. “Some place was closing yesterday, so I grabbed a bunch real cheap. I’m selling them at five hundred yen a piece. I already sold a bunch to some guys, two teachers, and a janitor. I raked in about two thousand yen so far. Can’t wait ‘til I get outta school -- there’s some folks desperate for last-minute gift ideas since it’s mother’s day.” Naruto was laughing to himself, seemingly not noticing the odd glances and looks of judgment passing his way.

Then, all of a sudden, as if a brilliant idea had hit him, Naruto became quiet. His next words were slow and careful. “Hey, Sasuke--”

Sasuke felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck as an odd foreboding crept up on him. He turned to narrow his eyes at the fox-like grin on Naruto’s face. “No.”

Unsurprisingly, Naruto went on like as if Sasuke hadn’t refused. “I still owe you a thousand yen, right? Wanna help me sell these? I’ll give you half of the profit too, if we get rid of these all by today.”

Sasuke turned back to his book. “No thanks.”

“Come on, it’ll be _easy!_ Anyway, it’s not like people like _us_ have anything special planned for today, right?”

“Naruto!” Ino hissed, elbowing Naruto with a wary look meant for Sasuke. “Watch what you say!”

“What? It’s fine; he said it was fine!”

“Don’t you have any tact?” muttered KIba. “It was just this morning, too!”

Sakura waved her hands in front of their faces. “H-Hey, let’s-- Let’s just drop it, okay?”

“Well, it’s true! It’s not like we’re suddenly gonna have _plans_ on _mother’s_ day--”

Sasuke snapped his book shut and grabbed his bag. He was distantly aware of the way Naruto yelped in pain after a particularly hard jab in the ribs -- courtesy of Sakura, no doubt.

She wasn’t strong enough to hold him back, though.

Sasuke was climbing the stairs in stairway 1 when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Without turning, he knew who it was. He clenched his fists.

“Sasuke, wait! I didn’t mean it! It was just--”

Sasuke wretched his arm back. Vaguely, Sasuke registered a note of desperation in Naruto’s shouting.

“It was a _joke_ , okay?”

“Just a _joke_ ?” Sasuke shoved him roughly, not caring that they were right in the middle of the stairs and that Naruto could have fallen back. “Do you ever _think_ before you open that gaping hole in your face?”

“I know--! I’m trying to-- I’m trying to _apologize_ , dammit!”

Naruto tried to put a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder but he threw it off. Naruto reached for his hand next, and Sasuke reeled his other hand -- his _fist_ \-- back, saw the fury sparking in Naruto’s eyes and--

“What are you two _doing?!”_

Naruto dropped Sasuke’s hand, taking a step back.

Sasuke just froze, looking down the stairs.

Sakura stared up at them from the bottom of the stairwell. There was a glimmer in her eyes that wasn’t supposed to be there, and her face was contorted with incredulity.

“Aren’t we _friends?”_ she demanded hotly, her own hands clenching tight. “Is _this_ what friends are supposed to do to each other?”

Sasuke saw Naruto hang his head, leaning against the wall with a huff.

“Well, _he_ started it--”

_“It doesn’t matter!”_

Sasuke winced; Sakura was _loud_. Naruto, too, had flinched.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said again, voice wavering. “You two… You _promised…_ ”

At the sound of _promises_ , Sasuke felt something spiteful curl in the pit of his stomach like a snake. But he kept his mouth shut because Sakura sounded like she was about to cry and he didn’t think he’d be okay with himself if he knew _he_ had made her cry.

“Okay,” he heard Naruto say at last. He sounded overwrought, leaning off the wall and turning towards her. “Okay, we’ll -- we’ll stop fighting. Just -- Just don’t _cry.”_

“I’m not crying,” Sakura denied, in a voice that definitely sounded like she was crying.

“I’m sorry, Sakura-chan--” Naruto began, voice already soft and gentle. He had the tone down, but he was at a loss for words. He turned wildly to Sasuke. “Oi, you jerk, get over here--”

Sasuke recoiled violently, slapping away Naruto’s outstretched hand once more and even taking a step back. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed, letting the snake of spite speak for him. Then he stopped it, because Sakura was looking at him with a wild expression, tears streaking her cheeks and eyes wide with fear.

Sasuke looked away, clenching his hands so tight that he felt his arms shake. He made himself breath in and out, slowly.

Naruto tried again, with just words: “Sasuke--”

Sasuke screwed his eyes shut. “Can you just-- _not_ talk to me? Just… Don’t talk to me.”

The stairwell was quiet. In this silence, he could hear more; Naruto’s heavy breathing and Sakura’s shaky breathes. His own breathing sounded like a storm in his ears; his heartbeat a thundering boom.

And worst of all, the questions that ran through their heads as they pinned him down with their stares. _Are you okay? Do you need help? Is there anything we can do?_

The same questions -- _always_ the same questions. They were infuriating. He was _fine_.

“Sasuke-kun--”

Sasuke turned on his heel and ran down the stairs, shoving past the two and heading for the entrance.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Sasuke climbed the front gates, dropped to the ground, and continued running.

 

\---

 

When he came home, it was to Itachi hunched over the sink, arms elbow-deep in soapy water and his back to the door.

Somehow, his brother still knew he’d come through the door.

“You’re back early,” he said, quickly rinsing off the suds on his arms as he looked over his shoulder. “Did something happen?”

Sasuke hesitated at the door. He’d considered lying to his brother, but that was a stupid idea. “Not really,” he said, deciding that lying by omission wasn’t _as_ stupid.

“School doesn’t let out for another two hours.”

Sasuke just dropped his bag on the low table close to the genkan.

“Did you get into a fight?”

Sasuke toed his shoes off, and placed them neatly on the rack at the side of the genkan, just like his mother had taught him to do.

“Sasuke,” his brother began in that exasperated tone of his, “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me--”

Sasuke exploded. “Then _don’t_ help! Why is _everyone_ treating me like I need help? I don’t _need_ people constantly checking up on me! I’m _fine!_ They don’t need to act like I’m going to _break_ every time they talk about their family, or their home lives, or-- or act like they can’t talk about stuff around me or can’t say certain words around me just because I don’t have parents anymore! I’m past that, I-- I don’t _care_ anymore-- I don’t--”

He didn’t realize he was crying until he heard himself choking and hiccuping when he tried to breathe. Then he realized he was sinking to the floor and that his brother had dropped to his knees to catch him. He dug his fingers into his brother’s shirt, let his brother press a hand to the back of his head, let himself bury his face in his brother’s neck, let himself cry loudly, wailing, sobbing, gasping for air.

It was a long while before he could calm down. When he did, it was because he had cried himself to exhaustion, until a dull ache pulsed against the sides of his head. He was still gripping tight onto his brother’s shirt, face pressed wetly against his neck.

Faintly, he could hear his brother humming; his mother’s song, about soap bubbles that popped before they could fly high away. It was a silly song, but one his mother often sang to soothe him when he was younger.

Tears pricked his eyes; he hadn’t heard it in so long. If he closed his eyes and tried hard enough… he could remember his mother’s voice, singing softly to him:

_“Little bubbles fly away; to the roof they fly away; flying high up to the roof; bursting with a tiny poof.”_

“Sasuke.”

The humming had stopped. Sasuke felt fresh tears squeeze past his closed eyes and slide down his face.

“Sasuke, look at me.”

Sasuke opened his eyes, slowly letting go of the iron grip on his brother’s shirt. He let his brother pull back as he wiped his face with his sleeves, not caring if he was smearing snot and tears and spit all over himself.

“Look at me, please.”

He did. He met his brother’s intense gaze, eyes dark and kind and gentle. His brother had his mother’s face and his father’s eyes. Looking at his brother and seeing his parents, Sasuke found it hard to keep the tears from coming back.

Itachi leaned in close, pressed his forehead to his. Closed his eyes. “I want you to listen to me, Sasuke. Listen carefully, okay?”

Sasuke nodded, not trusting his voice yet to tell him he would.

Itachi pulled away and opened his eyes. One hand came to weave softly through his hair. “You’re _twelve_ . You’re so, _so_ young. You’re young, and you aren’t alone. You have so many people who care about you, who want to care about you. And you have to let us. You can’t put up walls around you and pretend everything’s okay. That’s not what being strong is. Being vulnerable to those around you, being open to what you’re feeling and learning how to deal with that-- _that’s_ what being strong is.

“And you can’t do that alone. You need people you can lean on. You need people who can take care of you, who’ll be there for you when you need support.”

Itachi stopped talking, just looking quietly at Sasuke for a moment. Sasuke could tell his brother wasn’t done, so he swallowed and gave a tiny nod, a gesture to show that he was still listening, that he was still following.

His brother seemed to get that, because he continued. “I know it’s hard right now. I’m not going to say it’ll get better. It might get better, it might not. But pushing people away isn’t going to help anything. You just have to learn to communicate with those around you. Talk to them. Let them know when you need space and when you need their support.

“It’ll take some time, especially because you’re still learning who you are, what your limits are, and how you deal with people and things. But don’t give up. You’ll find something that works for you, something that’ll help you help yourself, whether it be finding someone to talk to or getting it out of your system in a healthy way.”

Itachi stopped speaking; the hand stroking his hair also slowed to a stop. Sasuke watched his brother looking at him with a soft and quiet stare, almost expectantly, wonderingly. _Was he listening? Did he understand? Would he accept these words or go off on his own?_ This was, probably, what was going through his brother’s mind as he gazed patiently at Sasuke.

 _“Say ‘yes’!”_ That was the eight-year-old he felt shaking inside of him.

 _“Say ‘no’!”_ That was the twelve-year-old he felt storming inside of him.

 _“You two… You_ promised… _”_ That was Sakura; _“You promised not to ruin what you have left.”_

 _“It was a_ joke _, okay?”_ That was Naruto; _“I’m sorry I’m not good with words; I’m sorry I couldn’t find a way to remind you that I always have your back.”_

“I’m going to my room.” That was him; _“I don’t know what to feel or say right now. I need time.”_

HIs brother seemed to understand. He smiled, laid his hand on his head, and kissed his forehead. “I’ll start dinner.”

Sasuke wiped at his eyes again. “Okay.”

He took his schoolbag from the low table behind him and slipped up the stairs. He laid on the bed for a while, staring up at his blank ceiling and counting how many times the kitchen sink was turned off and on and how many times he heard the knife thudding against the cutting board.

He counted twenty-one when he heard his phone vibrate madly against the books in his bag.

Sasuke pulled it out.

He had two messages.

One was from Sakura, almost an hour ago. _[I told Kakashi-sensei you went home.]_

The other, more recent, one was from Naruto. _[are we still friends?]_

What an idiot, he thought immediately. What a complete idiot. How could someone so dense be so-- so--

 _[You’re an idiot]_ , he texted back. And then, he added:

_[Buy me lunch tomorrow.]_

_[And for the rest of the week.]_

The reply came back faster than Sasuke had thought.

_[You’re outta your mind if you think I’m feeding you for a week, ya lily bastard.]_

Sasuke fell back on his bed and laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> (1) Slipper genies are house slippers that have microfiber… tentacles on the bottom that you can use to clean dust off the floor. [I’m not joking. ](https://www.google.com/search?q=slipper+genie&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9h8f09cvMAhWG1B4KHYY5CJkQ_AUIBygC)
> 
> (2) In Japan, mother’s day is the second Sunday of March, the same as it is in the US (and other countries). That means there’s no school on mother’s day. But in this fic, everyone’s at school. [I have a simple explanation as to why the Konoha brats have school on a Sunday.](https://www.google.com/search?q=nothing&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSjfT-9cvMAhVC1x4KHVdtCFwQ_AUIBygB&biw=1366&bih=643)
> 
> (3) In canon, Naruto refers to Sasuke as “teme,” which is roughly the same equivalent of calling someone a bastard. But I felt like that word alone wasn’t enough to convey the affection behind it. So I adjusted it to make it sound like it was in jest. Naruto’ll just call Sasuke a bastard if he’s pissed, though.
> 
> (4) Fun fact: Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Hinata, and Shino are in the same class (2A), with Kakashi as their homeroom teacher. Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, and Kiba are in the same class (2B), with Iruka as their homeroom teacher.
> 
> (5) Juku, if you already didn’t know, is cram school. Typically, Japanese students are in school from 8 AM to 3 PM, and attend cram school sessions from as early as 3:30 PM to as late as 9 PM; it depends on their personal schedules.
> 
> (6) Naruto went from a shitty brat who played pranks to a shitty brat who tries to sell weird shit to others at double the price. A con/salesman, of sorts. Except he really believes the shit he sells is worthwhile.
> 
> (7) The song Mikoto sings is my translation of the first verse of “[shabondama tonda](http://thejapanesepage.com/audio/shabondama),” a popular japanese children’s song. It’s really cute, and I loved hearing it when I was little.


End file.
